Bilstein shocks with a 3" lift

[tommudd]

I'm actually quite shocked you guys haven't put a list of parts together, item by item, of what people need to order to get the proper lift. That way you wouldn't get the same question so much

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:happy175:
We have I was asked so many times what could be used together that I finally had it all in one file to post
Then JBA took that info and thats how the Tommudd Econo kit came to be on his site
All of the info is posted on here and LOSTJEEPs many many many times in what works right, of course in the ones that are posted you have to look towards the end since some things for example Rancho RSX line of shocks are no longer available generally .
But yes the info is all out there and many of us know it by heart . I can type out what each one of the over 35 lifts I've done without even looking at the keyboard :happy175:

 

[tommudd]

We have
It's the FAQ in the lifting section
Nobody likes to read up on things so they ask the same question over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over

There fixed it for ya :happy175:
Think of answering the same question " what is the best lift for my KJ " for the past 14 years. Then times that by 6 sites I am on plus Fakebook :emotions34:

 

[Soloshot55]

I would take your advice and go with OME springs and Bilstein shocks and struts but by the time you add the top plate, 10 isolators, the bump stops, the control arms, the labor to assemble the strut, the pucks, you're talking a lot of money. That's more money than I wanted to allocate for this particular project.

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[tommudd]

I would take your advice and go with OME springs and Bilstein shocks and struts but by the time you add the top plate, 10 isolators, the bump stops, the control arms, the labor to assemble the strut, the pucks, you're talking a lot of money. That's more money than I wanted to allocate for this particular project.

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10 Iso's ? only need 4 upper rears if going to 3.5-3.75 inches
Control arms if going over 3.25 inches is a must but not below
labor to assemble the front coilover is what 50-75 bucks
Pucks , I'll be the better man and mail you 4
so not that much really for a quality lift
Let me revise some fiqures for you

 

[Soloshot55]

10 Iso's ? only need 4 upper rears if going to 3.5-3.75 inches
Control arms if going over 3.25 inches is a must but not below
labor to assemble the front coilover is what 50-75 bucks
Pucks , I'll be the better man and mail you 4
so not that much really for a quality lift
Let me revise some fiqures for you

4 iso's up front, 4 upper rears, 2 bottom rears. I would just assume it would be better to replace the old iso's rather than reuse the old stock ones

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[tommudd]

From jeepinbyal
4 OME coil springs 336.00
Front Teraflex bumpstops 46.00
from shockwarehouse
front shocks 208
rear shocks154
both bilstein
there ya go , of course some like to buy parts from multible places, I like to deal with one , maybe two incase of problems etc

BUT 744 that way
Buying everything through say JBA would be a few dollars more
His front shocks are 106 each
rear HD Bilsteins are 88 each over the regular ones I priced at shockwarehouse so a better shock but more $$$

 

[tommudd]

4 iso's up front, 4 upper rears, 2 bottom rears. I would just assume it would be better to replace the old iso's rather than reuse the old stock ones

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Never seen the need to replace them all
I think on all that have been done at my place we replaced one set of front iso's since it had over 190,000 miles

 

[Soloshot55]

So if I went with that setup but also added top plates to the front how would I keep it level front to back? Just 2 upper rear iso's per side?

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[tommudd]

Some will buy from multiple places but here is the reason I buy from just a few and the same places
On two different lifts we had scheduled once we had ordered springs from AllJs , once from JBA and either fronts or rears weren't available in stock. Both times they both on their dime special ordered and put a rush order in, paid for shipping on their dime just to get the parts here on time.
Now that is great customer service and why you'll see me pushing JBA and ALLJs, owners of both I can call today and will have parts shipping out to me one way or the other same day. Had one of the early UCAs break ( made by Al Handy before JBA bought him out) called JBA, brand new set was shipped out that afternoon free of charge even though he was not the original maker of them.
So while a few raise He** that I push JBA, I push great customer service and they can say what they want, I don't care :emotions34::gr_grin::gr_grin:

 

[tommudd]

So if I went with that setup but also added top plates to the front how would I keep it level front to back? Just 2 upper rear iso's per side?

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If you added the 1/4 inch top plate (for 3 inches of lift), you would use one extra upper iso in the rear per side. ( making it two upper per side, one original, one new one)

 

[Soloshot55]

If you added the 1/4 inch top plate (for 3 inches of lift), you would use one extra upper iso in the rear per side. ( making it two upper per side, one original, one new one)

Yes that's what I meant. We're on the same page. It's not bad if you don't have to change out the upper control arms but I really can see how they would be beneficial. I definitely would want to do them at the same time I'm doing the lift. Anyway thank you for all your help even despite our arguments LOL. I was wrong about you.

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[tommudd]

Yes that's what I meant. We're on the same page. It's not bad if you don't have to change out the upper control arms but I really can see how they would be beneficial. I definitely would want to do them at the same time I'm doing the lift. Anyway thank you for all your help even despite our arguments LOL. I was wrong about you.

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Yes the UCAs are a huge improvement over stock.
With being able to change just the ball joint instead of the whole arm, plus the ball joint sitting at the right angle for a lifted KJ/KK they just work great.
Its about a 50/50 split on the ones we do here, some wait a while to replace the stockers but will swap them out eventually. Just don't do like one guy, he called to see when I could install his JBA UCAs scheduled a time, he drove 3 hours to my place. Jacked it up to get ready to start, started to unbolt the balljoint and the whole arm pulled up out of the balljoint. Ball joint was still attached to the spindle. It was that close to failing, think he had an Angel riding along on the way up to my place!

 

[Soloshot55]

Yeah I'm a big fan of doing it once. Definitely makes more sense to do it while doing the lift anyway.

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[tommudd]

Just for you Soloshot55
:happy175::gr_grin:

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[tommudd]

Yeah I'm a big fan of doing it once. Definitely makes more sense to do it while doing the lift anyway.

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Upper are super easy really, right side bolts are right there where you are working anyways
so 15-20 minutes tops
drivers side front is easy, well not easy but doable, rear bolt can be a huge pain, just have some extensions, a swivel and have your ratchet out near the radiator. Plus one hand has to be very small and able to twist and bend well LOL

 

[mikejeepstarternoob]

Bilstein shocks with a 3" lift

Solo, you could just install lift see how upper bj holds up. If it ok just leave it. I replaced it to jba a-arms when mine was due for a change, and stock uca was darn close to coils.

And also, do rear installation yourself. Took me 30 minutes and I'm mechanically challenged. Takes a couple sockets and ratchet. Take rear sway bars too when you do. Money you saved doing rear yourself, use it for alignment.

 

[Soloshot55]

Just for you Soloshot55
:happy175::gr_grin:

You must be registered for see images attach

Hahaha!!

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[Soloshot55]

Tommudd are Bilstein and OME the only struts available to accompany the new OME springs?

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[tommudd]

Tommudd are Bilstein and OME the only struts available to accompany the new OME springs?

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Thats about it sadly
Rancho used to have a great line of shocks in the RSX's but they discontinued them 4-5 years ago. Someone did find some a while back, musy of been in a back room somewhere
but if you want to do a search RSX 17004 was the rears, RSX 17505 were the fronts
Plus OME has already or are gotin to be discontinuing the 132Ls which were the longer rear shocks
We used to have Ironman also, but for some reason they stopped shipping to the USA in the past few months

 

[Soloshot55]

Thats about it sadly
Rancho used to have a great line of shocks in the RSX's but they discontinued them 4-5 years ago. Someone did find some a while back, must of been in a back room somewhere
but if you want to do a search RSX 17004 was the rears, RSX 17505 were the fronts
Plus OME has already or are going to be discontinuing the 132Ls which were the longer rear shocks
We used to have Ironman also, but for some reason they stopped shipping to the USA in the past few months

WTH? Hopefully someone else will step up and make some good ones soon. Thanks for the info!

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